Remco Evenepoel took a dramatic Stage 15 win on Plateau de Solaison, completely reshaping the GC battle. The belgian double Olympic champion dropped race leader Tadej Pogacar and Pogacars teammate Isaac Del Toro on the 11.3 km final climb. Pogacar hesitated in response to Evenepoel’s attack and could only manage second, while Del Toro took third.
Florian Lipowitz was dropped from the lead group with 7 km to go and finished 5th, 58 seconds down. The Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider now sits 5th overall, 50 seconds adrift of Del Toro in 3rd, with his team leadership hopes fading for the final week.
The real drama came with 20 km to go when Jonas Vingegaard crashed heavily at a roundabout on the approach to the final climb, clutching his right shoulder before being taken to hospital in agony. The Dane, who had been second overall, was forced to abandon the Tour. Del Toro was also caught in the crash but continued.
Pogacar now leads the GC by a comfortable 5:00 over new second-place Evenepoel.
The night before the stage was far from restful for the stars as unannounced doping controls woke riders during the night. “I was sleeping well, then there was a knock at the door. It was a big surprise,” Vingegaard told Eurosport. “It’s good that they test, but of course it affects your performance before a stage like this.”
Pogacar had only managed four hours of sleep. “It wasn’t nice to be woken up from a deep sleep. I just couldn’t get back to sleep. So I listened to some old Eminem and made coffee. Now I’m pretty over-caffeinated,” he joked at the start.
On the 183.9 km stage with nearly 4,000 m of climbing, the peloton set a brutal pace. Early breakaway attempts all failed, and it wasn’t until halfway that a strong group finally escaped – including Britain’s Thomas Pidcock. But none of the escapees could hold on for the win.
